Three people were killed and 36 others were injured in separate attacks targeting two major aviation hubs in Saudi Arabia, according to the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). The assaults on Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday, drawing civilian infrastructure directly into the crossfire.
Houthi Strikes on Saudi Airports Kill Three and Injure 36 in Regional Escalation
At Abha International Airport, near the Yemen border, two female residents—one Moroccan and one Algerian—were killed, and 28 individuals were injured, GACA reported. The wounded at Abha included two Saudi citizens as well as residents of Bangladeshi and Filipino nationalities, with injuries ranging from minor to serious.
Meanwhile, an attack on King Khalid International Airport in the capital city of Riyadh resulted in the death of a Sudanese national and injured eight people, including five Saudi citizens, two Egyptian nationals, and one Pakistani national. All injured victims were immediately transported to hospitals for medical care.
Yemen’s Houthi movement claimed responsibility for the cross-border operations. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree stated that the group targeted the Riyadh facility with drones and executed the Abha operation using a combination of ballistic missiles and drones. While GACA did not explicitly assign blame in its announcements, the strikes prompted immediate security responses and diplomatic anxiety across the region.
Coalition Forces Destroy Missile Launcher in Sanaa
Major-General Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition, announced that coalition forces successfully intercepted a ballistic missile north of Riyadh and destroyed the launcher platform located in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, which had been utilized for the capital strikes.
Al-Maliki noted that Saudi forces took out the launcher as intelligence indicated preparations for follow-up attacks. New cage-like protective fences have been erected around fuel storage tanks and other installations belonging to the Saudi state-run Aramco oil company near the Riyadh airport. Pakistan confirmed that its military personnel are stationed in the kingdom.
Fighting Escalates Following Ceasefire Collapse
The airport strikes form part of a military escalation that has reignited Yemen’s civil war following the collapse of a four-year ceasefire. The United Nations reports that the renewed fighting has claimed nearly 1,000 lives and displaced more than 200,000 people. The hostilities escalated after Saudi Arabia and allied Yemeni forces launched a major ground and air offensive to retake strategic territory along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. These positions had been seized by Houthi rebels, granting them surveillance capabilities to pursue a blockade against Saudi-linked shipping through a strait that handles roughly 12 percent of global trade.
According to an analysis by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, the Houthis have deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure such as airports and oil facilities in an effort to maximize Saudi economic costs and force concessions. Concurrently, separate missile activity targeted Aden airport early Wednesday, where a missile struck near the runway just before the arrival of a flight from Cairo operated by Yemen’s flagship airline.
The United States embassy in Riyadh issued an updated security alert, advising American citizens to exercise vigilance as the conflict demonstrates the potential for further expansion.